Readout circuits for silicon microphones

Silicon microphones have been established as a billion pieces per year market in the field of acoustic sensor technology. The main driving products for the large demand are mobile phones, tablet PCs, hearing aids, gaming consoles and camcorders. The consumer market is showing a clear need for increased performance to improve quality for voice-recognition and music recording. This requires a development of innovative low-power architectures for achieving a large signal-to-noise ratio along with processing of large sound pressure levels. This paper gives an introduction into the construction and architecture of a silicon microphone for consumer applications. An example of a readout circuit for processing of high sound pressure levels will be discussed.